Disco Skeletor - The Movie! (or at least the explanation...)
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- Опубліковано 16 вер 2024
- Scott ToyGuru Neitlich discusses the infamous Skeletor repaint from the 200X line called by fans "Disco Skeletor". His origins, the
why" of his paint job, and how he almost made it into the Masters of the Universe Classics Toy line. How toy are made and more!
My kids actually bought me this figure, in the lull between 200x and Classics, they really wanted to buy me something i'd like but I had everything else. That's why I love this figure.
That is cool. May he be enjoyed for years to come
Disco Skeletor remains one of my most wanted MOTUC figures
Ebay?
@@spectorcreative1872 If there is a Disco Skeletor MOTUC figure on Ebay I will be getting him Scott haha
There is a cool disco skeletor funko pop, and now even a 10 inch one.
Oh lol, I just started watching the video, and saw the pic of the funko pop
I got it. I thought, why? Then my more intelligent brain said, “Why not?” Loved him!
I had Disco Skeletor as a kid in the 2000's. I always used to imagine he'd been powered up by some artifact he'd found.
I was never a fan of the re-paints but Disco Skeletor looked pretty cool to me
That is cool. Head cannon is the best
Awesome video. I love this channel because Scott is a source of knowledge from an industry insider for the following: marketing, toys, action figures, MOTU, design, etc. THANK YOU SCOTT !!!
Oddly, Disco Skeletor was the only MOTU 200X repaint that wasn't an actual variant that I purchased. He was just that striking.
And now he is very beloved!
I have to say I love the new adventures Skeletor figure that classics produced. I would normally would of passed but that figure was amazing. You guys did a stellar job.
Well thanks, much love went into ti
This really did answer a lot of questions about this topic. To us adult collector's it's fun to chase down. I actually have the Keldor coming in the mail that I just purchased, it should be here today. Well thanks for the info and keep up the great work!!!
Glad you enjoy! Do tell your friends and repost. It helps a ton
Nifty video! Thank you! Zaphod was a nice touch. 😉
Didn't see this guy back in the day, but the look has grown on me over the years. Mega-Artist MOTU Superfan "Gbagok" did a splendid unofficial bio card calling this version "Discord Skeletor," a powered-up incarnation warped by his exposure to the Chaos Dimension of Discordia in his quest for ever-greater power. The man's a genius.
Crazy how the design grows on you
I think a lot of those 200X repaints were pretty cool. The villains were all awesome. The heroes, not so much. Sy-Klone was cool, and they had a Man at Arms with silver armor who was cool, but most of the hero repaints were super goofy. Remember Mekaneck with a flesh colored loincloth?
It was mentioned in a past video that He-Man's naked barbarian look didn't test with kids. I wonder if Disco Skeletor was a way to give him more clothes as a way to help him pop on a shelf. Or maybe the kids didn't mind the naked wizard look. Either way, I had a lot of kitsch love for Disco Skelly.
That Sy-Klone was UGLY, but not in a good way like Disco Skelly!
I think it was just a way to stand out in aisle!
Hey Scott, I'd love a video discussing Illumina! Who she is, how close she was or wasn't to being made and why.
I'll add it to the list!
I understand why you say something like this is made for kids but it's funny to me because as a kid, this is a perfect example of something I would have hated. I can remember as a kid, disliking repaints because I felt like the companies were being cheap and trying to rip me off so I would just pretend those figures didn't exist. Stuff like that contributed to me looking at other toy lines because I always wanted new stuff and not the same stuff but in different colors.
And yes, not for everyone, but a kids line shouldn't be. Some figs speak to you, tothers do not
I friggin love this color version of Skeletor...I think it really works...
I'd love to see the actual paint process for figures
Amazing how popular this is!
@@spectorcreative1872 I've seen how Greyskull was painted, but I'd be curious as to the process for actual figures.
I actually like this repaint. I always imagined that the colors represented a magically powered up state, kind of like Goku in DBZ.
Yeah this repaint has lived on long past it's original intent!
The repaint reminded me a lot of his godlike form at the end of the MotU film. I kind of like it.
"Mer Man after a long night of drinking"..... That sounds like a Robot Chicken sketch... ;)
Let me call Matt and Seth...
2:19 Love how skeletor is rocking the batman symbol
I remember when the 200X line was in stores, and the .org forums were full of people, me included, being like "What are you guys doing with the line!? So many variants! You're killing the line!" and a lot was done to calm us down, and a lot of questions were dodged. I just wish SOMEONE had gone "You neckbeards only make up 20% of the people buying these toys, we HAVE to appeal to kids, they make up the other 80%, and kids LOVE colors!" I personally would have totally understood. I also have all the 200X figures, minus a bunch of the variants, but I kept disco Skeletor, as a talking point, he's pretty.
Yup. These decos (and all toys at retail) are aimed at kids. Want collector figs, go online to Pulse or Mattycollector
Hiya! It cheers me up and makes my day anytime I see one of my toy photos show up in a random youtube video (the cover photo used in the preview). Yay, thanks man! I took that one a while ago!
That is awesome! So glad it brings you such joy. Toys should be joy.
@@spectorcreative1872 Oh yeah, seriously - and they are! Did you find the photo on my Flickr account? I have put a decent amount of MOTUC stuff up there over the years.
Every so often I still see a MUSCLE photo I took showing up on UA-cam or around the internet, which is great.
www.flickr.com/photos/74529773@N07/
@@spectorcreative1872 you wouldn’t remember me if I said the name, but I used to post on He-Man.org back in the day - one of the few positive people, lol.
Anyway, I’ve got a book up on Amazon! No He-Man references in it, though the upcoming sequel has a one-liner.
Hi Scott, growing up in France in Paris, I remember that some of the MOTU and POP figures were not sold in France even in its heyday. Most noticeably, Point Dread, Zoar, Screeech, Evil-Lyn, Panthor, Monstroid and The Sorceress for MOTU and Arrow, Kowl or Loo-Kee for POP. MOTU and POP European cards had that mention on the back of it, in French "Certains des personnages et des accessoires peuvent ne pas etre commercialises en France". Literally saying (for the non French-speaking audience) "Some of the characters and accessories may not be sold in France". France was a fairly large market for MOTU and POP in the 80s as much as the UK, Germany or Italy, so I wonder if your time at Mattel could shed some light on that question I've had for over 35 years collecting the line.
I had the same problem in England, mon brave. When I was collecting "Star Wars" and MOTU, I had a local toy store (closed many years ago) that I went to. When I asked if they could order things for me, the gave me catalogs to browse through, and at least half the products had "NOT AVAILABLE OUTSIDE THE U.S.A." written next to them. 😢
Beedo Sookcool interesting! A bit surprising regarding MOTU since all of the characters and vehicle were assigned their own French translation/name (is Evil-Lyn was Demonia, Monstroid, Crabor...) like they were ready and able to be marketed in France yet getting the “Some of the characters and accessories may not be sold on France.” And the fact that in this case they were using excluding words, rather than the limiting yet including wording of “not available outside the USA”... hopefully Scott has some insights on this.
Je sais. Ce un grand problem quand beaucoup de jou preferait c'nest pas facile a achete.
I was at Wizard World Chicago in 2005 (maybe 2006) in line for an autograph when the 4 Horsemen saw him for the first time. They basically dropped everything to gawk at the atrocity that was carded. I believe CornBoy's exact words were "What the hell did they do to Skeletor?"
That sounds exactly like him. And I'm sure Mattel never ran the deco by him first.
I'M SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
muhaha
5:25 Looking to Kenner as inspiration in this context may have done the line more harm than good.
It is possible. After all hindsight is 20/20
Great video. I, myself use Disco Skelly as the 200X version of Anti-Eternia Skeletor.
That is really a cool idea
O'helno, ye genie-yes!
Disco Skeletor grows on you but zombie repaint trapjaw, reverse two-bad, and the blood variant Skelly are still my favorites
ETA: someone should've pushed for all faker repaints. Val and/or Emil did it on one of their covers
Oh I did! I really wanted Faker Teela.
Love the Disco Skeletor Tri Clops and Trap Jaw repaints...would be interesting to see the vintage figures of these guys painted up like that...Hey Scott could you do a video on the similarities between vintage MOTU and GI JOE both cane out in 82 both started as basic figures and branched out in 83 both had a guy that was allied to the main villian that was a master of disguise and had his own men Zartan/King HISS, both had a guy that had his own army and hated the main hero and villian Destro/Hordak...even Destro and Hordaks colour choices Black Red Grey Silver and sometimes gold were similier
Those are some interesting design similarities. I'll add it to the topic list!@
It's interesting that you point out that the bright/eye catching colors are inherent of a retail kids line. In their talk at power con a few years ago, Super 7 talked about how they got into the toy industry by doing new versions of older Godzilla/Kaiju sofubis which were originally retail toys in japan. When they made these collector only toys, they used strange and 'eye catching' colors for these characters. The japanese toymakers were concerned, as, Godzilla (for example) was never Bright orange, or neon purple in any of the movies. Super 7 had to sell them on the fact that these were just artistic takes on these characters, and not meant to be representative of anything in media. Sort of the opposite of what you describe here. But if you think about it, these sofubi collectors are now all grown up kids who were sold bright colored toys from back in the day, so, maybe it works now?
Brian from Super 7 also mentioned that Skeletor stuff always sells, and that correlates well with him being a pop culture icon over he-man. I know that from my personal experience, people who did not grow up with MOTU (either too young, or old to get into it) always seem to recognize, and remember skeletor (even his name), and many think He-man is conan. That might be why Disco skeletor did click with collectors, vs snake armor heman never did completely (I do still like some of the He-man alts from 200x). I totally think you should have done disco skeletor in classics. Hopefully, it could be a power con exclusive, like 'Horde Zombie He-man', which is now my favorite version of he-man. ;P
IP owners often have a hard time seeing the toyetic needs of their characters. It wasn't until the 90's that Batman wore anything but blue and black as a figure.
Scott, from an outsider's perspective, 200X's toyline looks like it was bungled badly all around. Since you've mentioned some of the folks who worked on the line that you later dealt with at Mattel felt burned by it, I'm guessing that's a fair assessment. I know you're personally a fan of the era, and have talked about things 200X did right for the property, but I'd love a vlog on where it went wrong and why.
If I did one it would only be my opinion as I did not personally work on the line. I think it came down to poor case pack and a poor time slot for the show.
@@spectorcreative1872 Of course; that's fair and understandable, and I certainly wasn't trying to get you to trash talk anyone at Mattel. Mostly I was hoping you might have some personal insights or anecdotes you could share from those folks you worked with who did work on the line.
Alternatively, maybe a vlog about how you would have done 200X if you had been around at the time would be fun. I presume the strategies for a mass market line with an active media tie-in would have been a lot different than Classics. For example: would you have gone more anime influence? Less? Mix in some later-run guys like Rio Blast or Clamp Champ from the start? More new characters (200X Spector!)? Inquiring minds...
Regardless, thank you both for these cool vlogs and for spearheading two of my favorite collections (DCUC and MOTUC) of all time.
Came here to say basically the same thing. I was all-in on 200X from the moment I saw product on shelves and thought the accompanying series was terrific. I fell out of it simply because of the frustrations with only being able to find repaints on shelves and not any of the other characters (Mekaneck, Orko, Ram Man, etc). It wasn’t until years after the fact that I even became aware of the green carded figures because I had quit this even before that.
Disco merman will forever be known to me as hangover merman
A good name indeed
You needed some 70's music in the background for this one.
I really did!
By the title, I thought this video was going to talk about the golden-armor Skeletor from the MotU theatrical film (as played by Frank Langella).
Ah! That is funny. Nope, this is the disco repaint. ;-)
Honestly Disco Skeletor reminds me a little of when Skeletor gets God-like power right before he has that final battle with He-Man at the end of the live action movie, well save for all that orange. I'm not opposed to bright and flashy Skeletor in principle, though I feel like this version just needs some tweaking.
And now he is a beloved figure to collectors!
He's the Lord of Destruh-uh-uh-uh, stayin' alive! Stayin' alive!
Someone call my agent!
Many collectors have information and great research in their videos, but nothing beats content from the horses mouth in the toy industry.
I'm sure Disco Skeletor and Pimp Daddy Destro love going clubbing!
Subscribed!
Disco Stu likes disco music.
I Have this figure! I’ve had him since childhood and recently pulled him out of storage
So worth owning
@@spectorcreative1872 indeed. It’s a good figure
I was thumbing though some Funko Dorbz at TRU back in spring of 2017 thinking, “I’m probably not going to buy any of these. I got to the last one and as I looked at it, “That’s Disco Skeletor! Okay I’m buying.”
Funny how he is now a legit thing for collectors!
I keep thinking of Transformers where, from the word go, they incorporated repaints as different characters eg Skywarp rather than ‘stealth Starscream’ and how that made otherwise disposable repaints into necessary characters. I know for the headliners you want to have that character for consumers to hang the ‘want’ onto, but do you think expanding the secondary roster through repaints would have had a better result at no significant extra cost? If 200X had released Beastman in all red as Beast Lord rather than just with green loincloth surely the only additional expense would be changing the typesetting on the insert and copyrighting the new character name and you’d build up the world more and apply the ‘collect them all’ desire much stronger for both adult collectors and children.
It is a cool strategy.
I agree with you that the Trap Jaw repaint looked awesome. I also thought the Tri-Klops repaint was pretty cool as well.
Yeah, made more sense than this figure.
Ohhh what if disco Skeletor origins was that he was able to absorb a small portion of the cosmic power from castle grayskull and the colors are the power he absorbed flowing through him.
Now that would be sweet!
@ 15:00 Wha... What the heck
Is that card back?
Disk-eletor kinda reminds me of
Pimp Daddy Destro!
& _both_ remind me of bootlegs,
(like The Ewoking Dead, etc.)
Would love to hear your take
on designer vinyl rebootlegs et al.
I am not a huge fan of vinyl in general. I like my figures 6" and articulated.
I know you are not involved in it, but could you discuss the Masters of the WWEternia figures and how that line works with MOTU Origins? There is a lot of shared tooling and it seems to me that WWEternia is paying for most of Origins tooling. I may be wrong on that but I was wondering about the marketing angle of WWE crossover with Masters and if Mattel went with what they suspect will be stronger sales up front.
See my FAQ video just posted!
Speaking of tooling it amazes me they got 7 figures out of just 3 bodies for the original 1982 line. Teela not included. And don’t get me started on all the doubles lol
And a pattern we were able to follow for Classics!
Do you think if the motu movie is ever made and released, that Mattel will consider re releasing motu classics? They have the molds and the movie might resurge kid interests. In for a penny, in for a pound.
One can only hope, but I am guessing they will go in a new direction
I get your toy company excuse for this repaint... But did it actually work? Did this sell well with kids? My suspicion is that it made no difference at all to the success or failure of the 200X line. Im guessing kids ignored it, as they did the rest of the line. The only reason it is remembered at all is because of the adult collectors who weren't even the target market. I saw loads of these back in the day, and never bought one. It was definitely a release when the line was on it's last legs. It reeked of desperation. As an adult who bought a TON of 200X, it was even insulting. Funny he lives on in infamy, I guess. Lol.
This was a fun topic. I just recently got my the 10" Funko Pop Disco Skeletor. I remember that wave of repaints in the 200x line and while I didn't care for some of the others but I couldn't help but purchase Disko Skelly if only for how terrible the color scheme looked.
Also, after all this time I realized that the 200x Mer-Man figure is a REPAINT! I thought I had the standard version. I didn't get into collecting 200x until I saw Roboto on the shelves, and that was sort of the beginning of the end. Sure, I had picked up He-Man, Skeletor, and Trap Jaw (of course one to open and one to keep MOC) but I kept telling myself that it was enough. Once I saw that Roboto though, I knew I could never be satisfied. I also lucked out and found a Teela in the wild as well. After that I ended up playing catch-up, which is why I ended up with some 200x recolors. For instance the aforementioned Mer-Man as well as Ram-Man (I could only find the bronze armored Rammy versus the silver armored version.).
Thanks Scott!
Still cracks me up that companies now make this figure on purpose
4:02 Don’t be silly… That’s Christmas Stratos. 😎
Clearly.
Getting my popcorn ready.
Extra butter
I saw this version ins stores back in the 2000x toy line and hated it. Fast forward to today and I wish I would have bought multiples.
I kinda feel the same way!
Where oh where did you get that group Skeletor art picture? It looks so cool and I need it in my gallery
Google.
That trap jaw looks nice though ..some repaints work and some don't
Agreed.
This very much explains another reason why a new movie has yet to get off the ground: that Mattel was trying to approach MOTU from a Batman-esque perspective indicates no basic understanding of their own property, and why Batman works in that way, while He-Man wouldn't; He-Man had half a good decade before this new line; Batman had been in the public mindset for half a century by that point. Mattel is clearly waiting for a sure thing, and......there ISN'T one. I hope they enjoy inevitable liquidation....
Very much so. He Man is not like Batman. If he was any super hero he would be Captain Marvel.
@@spectorcreative1872 I don't think that helps his case at this time, but fair enough.
On the subject of weird characters that weren't exactly received in a very good way, maybe you can make a video tackling the worst selling/worst received characters in the MOTU lines.
I"ll add that to the list!
Toy makers forget one thing. Like collectors kids have reason. Why so many skeletors and He-men with different armors? In which chapter of the series it will appear? That's was or is a window to expose product. 200X episodes of An Wat Gar and the island missed the chance to introduce characters such as Jitsu, Ninjor and Clamp Champ.
Well if the series had kept going...
That Beast Man repaint looks brilliant!
All yours on ebay for cheap!
@@spectorcreative1872 To eBay!!
are the Neca TNMT 2 pack figures that are found at Target aimed at Kids more than adults? or the Neca Godzilla line? I see kids gravitate a lot towards Neca stuff
Those are aimed at adults. Hence placement in the collector wall behind the TVs.
200X was hard to come by in my country Malaysia early on. So I asked my brother whom was working in America to help me pickup He man and Skelly. He helped me pick up the regular He man and when I received this Skeletor instead I was like WTF?!! I swear I thought it was a bootleg then smdh
International distribution is tough. Check out the video I did on this. It can be expensive to ship and finding distributors who can take the quota is tough.
I must of been the only kid that hated color variants. I remember looking at this Skeletor on the shelf and thinking "Why?" Then going home wishing I'd found one that looked normal. I also hated not being able to just have a normal looking Batman and having to settle for lame color variants. Man, I truly hated those things. So much so that I took a marker to them to make them black. They can keep their yellow Batman. To this day I can't stomach a color variant that makes no sense.
Oh not the only one, but they do sell or toy companies wouldn't make em!
Yes, he definitely could've been a con exclusive or either a bonus figure with subscription. He definitely could have taken the place of Shadow Weaver.
Well what could have been...
I'm currently trying to get all variants of 200x skeletor.... it's impossible.
A quest worth having
I would like to see a video about the 'reaction figures ' that Mattel made that were mego like figures but had the real Ghostbusters.
Oh I will get to that for sure!
Why didn`t you made a Disco-Skeletor in the Classics Toyline?
In Time we would have for sure
Thanks for this. The Funko Pop/Soda versions sold out very quickly for an ugly repaint. Was baffled as to why.
Cause weird always sells. ;-P
I would love to see a video talking about the very early He-Man art & artists. Not just Earl Norem!
Seconded! Or maybe just a general vlog about the importance of artwork on packaging to help sell a toy if Scott doesn't want to do a deep dive on something so specific. I understand the economics of it, but I always hated the trend towards lines having generic cardbacks regardless.
I've covered a bit of this, but can certainly do a follow up
is there dicoHeMan
Scott, please do a video on batman zipline. Thanks
Do you mean the Wave 1 DCUC figure?
My eyes are crossing,
& I read that as "Batman Nipple!"
goooooodnite @ a quarter to four
I got that mer man in my bathroom. Interesting vid
You too huh?
@@spectorcreative1872 lol yeah seemed a good idea and looks good
ST Patrick's Day Beast Man
Great name for him!
Would you do some POP figures some problems or funny stories you may encountered during MOTUC.?
Meaning the She Ra characters? I'll get to them!
Hi, Scott, love your videos!!
I was wondering if there is a way to show you photos of some figures I got my hands on?, I always wondered if they were real, I have one from the ghostbusters line, a couple from Motu classics and from the dcu classics, on your videos I learned that my Stratos with beastman loincloth was real
Comment with a link and I'll check em out!
Spector Creative rjdm52.tumblr.com/post/631259114762338305
Spector Creative rjdm52.tumblr.com/post/631259201449164800
Shouldn’t Disco Skeletor be called Halloween Skeletor? Orange and purple are common colors for Halloween decorations.
A valid name. Disco Skeletor is what the fans started calling him. Not an official name from Mattel at all.
What are those mini figs from? I need those in my life like 3 years ago lol, seriously tho
Those were made as part of the 200x line to hit a lower price point
I'd like to offer a new name for this character- Skeletor 2: Electric Bugaloo...
Well said.
@@spectorcreative1872 Thank you sir!
Oh sure blame the bat
Always blame the Bat. That is what Joker says
if. i don’t get My Cyclone i might End up Doing like spector Run to Matel end up makeing my Own Cyvlone
Ok so now I'm gonna have to see a picture of merrman in your bathroom
I better post that soon!
Bright colors always attract consumer custamer like. McDonalds Coffee spots. always bright colors it stands out StarBucks have. green colors
Disco Skeletor vs Pimp Daddy Destro
I would pay good money for that
@@spectorcreative1872 hey, you’re the content creator, have at it!😂
Wasn't into the 2000X watched the cartoon but I didn't know about the repaints ...I probably would have stayed away from them anyway ... especially that skeletor ....ugh too bright for me ...lol
This was one a bit of an eye sore
I hated these 200X repaints, everytime I saw them clogging up shelves & discount bins all I could think of was other figures we could have gotten instead...
They were meant for kids!
@@spectorcreative1872 I get that, I was just saying that for me personally I was always saddened by seeing repaints pegwarming as it meant taking slots from figures we could have had (even as a kid collecting Batman: The Animated Series I didn't get any repaints like Neon Batman or Laser Batman, I only bought figures of characters who had actually been on a show)
Disco HeMan
14:47 - WTF ? ! ! ! 😀 😀 😀
Raver Skeletor! *boots n cats n boots n cats n boots n cats*
I bought him bc I thought he was hilarious. Sometimes I buy ridiculous things just bc they are ridiculous.
Same reason I have a Major McCheese
Awful figure but I did end up buying him at the time as he was cheap on clearance and I wanted his armor for my custom 200X faker.
Awfully good?
Na na batman
N’a n’a n’a na Batman
merman fan ha ha ha that s funny MerMan. if was drunk i wood be talking to merman in. my bathroom
Disco skeletor hahahahahahaa...wow no wonder I never heard of this figure ...that's bright ...could blind somebody with that color scheme ....lol
He has the beat!
@@spectorcreative1872 hahhahhahahahahahaha..good one
Disco Skeletor makes sents. he’s evil
Dancing in Satan s Court Order
It always amazes me these awful repaints sell. I hated it in the 90s with Batman and then in 200X. Who the hell buys these things? I just wanted Batman, He-man etc in their normal outfits.
Ah, the "Kenner Batman Syndrome": pegs crammed with Neon Laser Scuba Grappling Hook Butterscotch Wing-Blade Batman (with Dino-Buddy!), but no villains for him to fight. 😜
In theory, the eye-catching colors would catch the kids' attention, and the goofy accessories would be the thing that convinces Gran'ma (or whomever) it was worth the money to spend on it. Kid would be told "OK, you can have just one figure..." and said kiddo would gravitate towards the figure that 'pops' the most on the shelf. Lots of kids (back when they cared about action figures) didn't give a fig about the characters, they were just your typical casual kid who wanted some kind of neat toy and would spend that afternoon shooting their younger sibling in the eye with Batman's grapple-blaster or whatever, and would probably just lose the figure in the couch or the backyard in a day or two anyway.
That was never how I collected as a kid; I always wanted more characters to build my little imaginary universes. Most other adult collectors who started as kids I know always felt the same way. It kind of a bubble adult collectors fall into. We feel a certain way, then we hear a handful of others reinforce it, and we end up thinking there's no way Scuba Ninja Batman or Space Luge Batman could possibly appeal to anybody. But there's a reason toy companies to this day use that formula: it works... just not on us.
That's why we were lucky to have a collector like Scott running things on a couple of great brands for awhile. The man understood that you could paint Batman in neon camo and sell him to kids, but if you could paint him up in something that was accurate to the comics instead, you'd get a toy that appealed to kids AND collectors, and squeeze more sales out of the line as a result.
Strange things do happen
@destructarr Thank 'e, mate!
Disco is pure evil
Much like the albatross